Public Employees Insurance Agency Sued

{West Virginia}...County school boards are warning that West Virginia's plan for tackling retiree health costs threatens to derail the state's education system. All but six of West Virginia's 55 county boards have asked the Supreme Court to declare that the plan violates the state constitution's mandate for a thorough and efficient system of free schools. The boards have sued the Public Employees Insurance Agency over monthly billings for the future health-care coverage of their teachers and other employees, for when they retire. Howard Seufer, a lawyer for the boards, told the justices that these monthly charges will total $200 million this budget year. Amounts left unpaid become debts of the school systems.